Josef "The Angel of Death" Mengele

To some Dr. Mengele was hero, but to many he was a sick-minded killer. His work in Nazi concentration camps left thousands of women and children amputated and dead.

Josef Mengele was born March 16, 1911 in Bavaria, Germany. He was one of three children and his father, Karl Mengele, was the founder of a farm machinery company. In 1935 he earned a PhD in anthropology from the University of Munich. He then started work at the Institute for Hereditary Biology and Racial Hygiene as assistant to Dr. Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer who was a successful scientist known for his work in genetics. Verschuer had a distinct interest with twins which is probably the reason Mengele had a fascination with them his entire career.

In 1937 Mengele joined the Nazi Party, and by 1938 received his medical degree and joined the army. He there did medical work for the Schutzstaffel, where he shortly after distinguished his self as a soldier. He had a successful military career earning numerous awards and by April of 1943 was promoted to the rank of SS captain. He was then called to Auschwitz concentration camp to replace an ill doctor at the Nazi extermination camp Birkenau. His job was to examine inmates and decide whether they could make a physical labor contribution or they should be sent to their death in the gas chambers. But he was also given the freedom and power to really explore his medical fascinations which led to disturbing tests and operations. He especially enjoyed working with twins.

Although he was cruel, many of the people he worked on were blessed by the fact they were fed and housed better then the other people at the camps. Some even referred to him as "Uncle Mengele" or "Mengele the Protector" and often offered the young children sweets. He did such experiments as trying to change peoples eye colors, sterilization, shock treatment, and he especially enjoyed working on identical twins. All of his procedures were done with out anesthesia and usually ended in death. Out of the 3,000 twins that passed through the Auschwitz camp only 100 pairs survived. Although he claimed that all the work he did was in the name of science, many believe he went mad with power.

After leaving Auschwitz in 1945 Mengele was transferred to Grob Rosen to continue his work. But shortly after his arrival, the war was ending and the camp was in the process of getting captured by the Red Army. He then fled to a small village in Bavaria, changed his name to Fritz Hollmann to protect him from getting captured, and worked on a farm until 1949. He there could still stay in contact with family and friends. He then found the opportunity to leave and once again fled from home, this time moving all the way to South America.

Soon after settling in Buenos Aires Mengele met many other German refugees and began to study medicine again. He began to specialize in illegal abortions but then came into police contact after a patients death. Although he was fairly successful in his new home he always feared being captured and always seemed to be on the run, until his death in 1979. He is currently buried in Bertioga, Brazil.

SOURCES
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Jesse Owens

Jesse Owens is a hero to all of us but especially the African-American community. His determination and will power led the way to a successful track career. He paved the way for many black athletes and instilled the message to us all that no matter what obstacles stand in the way hard work and desire to be great will take you wherever you want to go.
James Cleveland Owens (Jesse) was born September 12, 1913 in Oakville, Alabama. He was the seventh of eleven kids and was later nicknamed J.C. after moving to Cleveland, Ohio. Due to his southern accent while his teacher was taking role on the first day when saying his name was J.C. she misunderstood and heard the name Jesse which stuck with him for his entire life. In junior high school while working at a shoe repair shop, he realized he had a strong passion for running. He was a track star all through high school and set many school records and even some world records! He then graduated high school and attended Ohio State University. Although he was an incredible student athlete, he wasn’t offered a scholarship because of the color of his skin and had to work his way doing any job he could to pay his tuition. He broke many school and world records there an earned himself a trip to the 1936 Olympics in Berlin Germany.

Although Jesse was an incredible athlete Hitler’s Nazi Party were convinced their German Olympians would dominate and no “inferior race” could come close to the excellence of their Aryan athletes. Prior to the events Adi Dassler persuaded him to use shoes from the company he found, Adidas. This was the first sponsorship for an African-American athlete in history. Jesse Owens took the world by surprise when he dominated the track events by winning 4 gold medals. Hitler still only shook the hands of the German victors. But it wasn’t Hitler that Jesse was offended by. It was the actions of Franklin D. Roosevelt when he didn’t even bother to send the champ a telegram or formally recognize his success. He wasn’t recognized by any U.S. officials until Dwight Eisenhower labeled him as an “ambassador to sports”.


After the games were over, the entire U.S. team was invited to compete in Sweden but Owens declined and therefore lost his amateur status. He and his family were struggling financially and he began to use his speed and agility for promoting purposes such as racing horses, giving younger runners outrageous head starts and coming from behind and beating them and became a fairly successful entertainer. He once stated “People say it was degrading for an Olympic champion to run against a horse, but what was I supposed to do? I had four gold medals, but you can’t eat four gold medals”. He soon after discovered himself in an even deeper hole, filing for bankruptcy, running a dry cleaning business and working as a gas station attendant. He soon after started traveling the country as a U.S. “Goodwill Ambassador” speaking at such places The Ford Motor Company and The United States Olympic Committee. As he grew old he spent a lot of time racing horses and stressing the importance of good ethics in life. After 35 years of smoking, Owens died at age 66 from lung cancer, leaving in Tucson, Arizona his 3 daughters and wife Minnie.

SOURCES
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